Opportunities for Students
Whether you’re getting your first paycheck, thinking about college, opening your first bank account, or wondering how investing actually works, our live, online courses will help you feel ready for what comes next!
At Invest in Girls, we’re investing in you
Start learning with Invest in Girls and get the knowledge that you deserve. You’ll take these live courses online with a group of high school girls and a dedicated teacher.
Financial Foundations
New 4-Unit Series!
Unit 1
Money 101: How to Manage What You Make
Your first paycheck. Your first bank account. Your first budget. There’s a lot to figure out! In this introductory unit, you’ll build the everyday money skills you need to take charge of your finances, including:
- Discovering your money personality and setting S.M.A.R.T. goals
- Understanding your paycheck, including taxes, deductions, and take-home pay
- Building a budget you can actually use
- Learning how digital banking and debit cards work
- Staying safe when using financial apps
Unit 2
Credit Smart: Use It, Build It, Master It
Credit can open doors, but it can also cost you. Learn how borrowing works and how to make credit work in your favor. You’ll explore:
- Student loans, car loans, interest, and how borrowing really works
- Credit cards, from rewards to risks
- How credit scores work and how to build yours
- How to spot scams and protect yourself from fraud
- How to weigh the costs and benefits of big decisions like college, buying a car, or moving out
- What to do when debt starts to feel overwhelming
Unit 3
Wealth Building: Start Early, Go Far
You don’t need to be rich to start investing. In fact, starting early can be one of your biggest advantages. Learn the basics of investing and long-term financial planning, including:
- Risk, reward, and finding your comfort zone
- Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs
- How to find trustworthy financial information online
- Diversification and inflation
- Compound interest and the basics of 401(k)s, IRAs, and Social Security
- Why insurance matters and how auto, health, and renter’s insurance work
Unit 4
Career Launch: Get Ready to Make Your Move
Your first internship, your first job, college, or even your own business. Whatever comes next, you’ll be glad to have these practical skills you can use right away, including:
- Creating a resume and cover letter
- Preparing for interviews
- Building your professional presence on LinkedIn and beyond
- Navigating professional etiquette
- Exploring entrepreneurship
- Connecting to additional Invest in Girls career development opportunities
Frequently Asked Questions
About Financial Foundations
Which course should I sign up for first?
New to personal finance?
If you haven’t taken a personal finance class or an IIG course before, start with Unit 1: Money 101: How to Manage What You Make.
Already have some experience?
If you’ve completed IIG’s CFO, CIO, or CEO course, or have taken a personal finance class elsewhere, we recommend starting with Unit 2: Credit Smart: Use It, Build It, Master It.
You don’t have to complete the units back-to-back, but we strongly recommend completing them in order for the best learning experience.
What happened to Invest in Girls’ CFO, CIO and CEO courses?
For the past year, the Invest in Girls and Council for Economic Education team have been working to revamp IIG’s curriculum—making it even stronger, more comprehensive and more interactive than before. This fall, we are excited to roll out our new and improved curriculum to our students online. If you’ve taken some (or all) of our courses before, you’ll notice big improvements in our content, delivery, and more throughout each new unit.
How do I receive my certificate for completing the course?
To receive a certificate of completion, students must attend five out of six lessons during their course. Additionally, students are expected to be on time for each lesson, as we cannot guarantee attendance credit for late arrivals.
Our attendance requirement is to ensure participants can learn our content across each of our lessons and is not considered a reflection of any participant’s commitment to the program.
If you anticipate missing more than one lesson during your course, it is strongly recommended to wait for a course cycle that better aligns with your schedule.
I have a conflict with one of the sessions. Can I still participate? Will the sessions be recorded?
IIG requires students to attend five out of six sessions in order to receive a certificate of completion. While we appreciate communicated absences, our attendance requirement still applies. However, students are still welcome to join their class if they miss more than one session.
If you anticipate having more than one conflict, it is strongly recommended to wait for a course cycle that better aligns with your schedule.
Sessions are not recorded, but instructors post all course materials to Google Classroom and are always happy to answer student questions!
I’m going to be late to one of the sessions. Can I still participate? Will I still receive credit?
If you anticipate you will be late to a lesson, please email your instructor once course information is shared (typically a week prior to the course start date).
You are still welcome to participate and join the course later, but please note that any participant more than 5 minutes late may not receive credit for attending.
We understand that this is a high expectation. However, due to lessons being limited to one hour, it is difficult for our instructors to keep track of attendance once the lesson begins. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that students will receive credit if they arrive late.
My time zone makes it difficult for me to join the course. Is there any way to change the course time?
We appreciate your interest and commitment to IIG despite the time difference. Unfortunately, we cannot change our course times once they are open for registration.
In each cycle of courses, we try to change our dates/times to accommodate those in different time zones. However, we cannot accommodate every time zone at this moment, but we hope that you stay on our email list in case that changes in the future!
I’m not in high school. Can I still join IIG online?
Unfortunately, IIG is for high school students only. If you are not currently in high school, you are not eligible to participate in IIG’s courses. If you are in middle school, please stay on our email list, as you will be eligible for our courses as early as next summer!
Career Access
3 Ways to Connect to Your Future
Summer Internship
When opportunity knocks, will you open the door?
Invest in Girls students are invited to observe the inner workings of leading investment and strategic advisory firms while completing an independent research project on the importance of women as professionals in finance.
Internship applications will open in spring 2027.
Exploring Finance
Hey, girls! The world is your oyster, and we know some professionals who are eager to share their pearls of wisdom with you…
You’ll learn from professionals in finance about their jobs and career paths, have opportunities to practice networking and build career skills, and meet like-minded peers.
These successful women working in the finance industry will showcase what’s possible for you in the world of work.
Mentorship Program
A great way to gain knowledge, insights, and connections is through the Invest in Girls Mentorship Program.
You are paired up with an amazing woman in finance for monthly conversations throughout the school year. Your mentor has been there and done extraordinarily well.
Here’s what students have to say about Invest in Girls
I’ve gained so much knowledge and confidence from Invest in Girls and the incredible women I have encountered because of the program.
IIG has changed my perspective that finance is something that only men can do. It’s something that young women can do too and being part of this change is important to us.
Financial literacy is so important because money is everywhere. It was an amazing feeling to finally understand how things work, and now I think I can explain it myself.
Student Competitions
IIG is a program of the Council for Economic Education, who each year hosts national events for teams of high school students who show what they know and compete against their peers across the country in a super-fun way. Give it a try!
National Personal Finance Challenge
Build and demonstrate your knowledge of money management in the National Personal Finance Challenge (NPFC). Work with a teacher or coach to enter a team and prepare for your state’s competition. Not only is participating in the NPFC gratifying, it’s a great way to show what you know, have a chance to compete in the national finals, and win cash prizes.
National Economics Challenge
Test your knowledge of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and the international economy in the National Economics Challenge (NEC). Work with a teacher or coach to enter a team and prepare for your state’s competition. This team learning activity is like an Olympics for economics with a chance to compete in the national finals and win cash prizes.